: Brand Saga: McDowell’s No.1 – An ode to ‘Yaari’ with Bollywood, sports & music #IndiaNEWS #Brand Saga The brand has leveraged Indias passion and love for sports, Cinema, and music with the

Brand Saga: McDowell’s No.1 – An ode to ‘Yaari’ with Bollywood, sports & music #IndiaNEWS #Brand Saga
The brand has leveraged Indias passion and love for sports, Cinema, and music with the likes of MS Dhoni and Farhan for its campaigns. This week we revisit McDowell’s No. 1 advertising journey to discover how the brand strived to become the equivalent of friendship in India.

How do you sell ‘alcohol’ without selling ‘alcohol’? Appropriately called ‘surrogate advertising’, spirit brands have been adhering to the ban on liquor advertising in the country but haven’t stopped promoting their products through other means. One of the prominent ones in the category is Diageo India’s McDowell’s No. 1. From harnessing the power of content marketing to devising new jams for the young and old McDowell’s No. 1 advertising journey entails a few of the finest marketing lessons.

McDowell’s No. 1 was also one of the first brands to create an IP based on the theme of yaari reaching out to the Gen Z that have been known to put camaraderie above anything else.

McDowell’s Indian Venture

United Spirits Limited’s (USL) flagship brand McDowells No. 1 also known as the largest spirits brand in the world comprises three categories whisky, brandy, and rum.

Back in 1826, USL was founded by Agnus McDowell as a trading company called McDowell and Company in India. He bought a warehouse in the Madras (Chennai) region and began importing liquor, tobacco products, and other consumer goods to serve the needs of Britians stationed there.

Sensing an opportunity and rising demand, in 1951, Vittal Mallya-helmed United Breweries Group bought McDowell and Company and established the companys first distillery at Cherthala, Kerala in 1959. McDowells began bottling Bisquit Brandy and Dorville French Brandy, from imported concentrates, becoming the first company to manufacture Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL).

In 1962, the company rolled out Golden Grape Brandy, its first original product and the next year witnessed the launch of McDowells No. 1 Brandy in 1963–64. The company launched McDowells No. 1 whisky in 1968, and later went onto commission new distilleries in South India.

Vittal Mallya’s son, Vijay Mallya took over the reins of McDowells in 1973 and assumed chairmanship of UB Group and McDowells after the former died in 1983. McDowells No. 1 Rum was launched under Mallya’s supervision in 1990 when the company also acquired the spirits business and manufacturing facility of Forbes Campbell & Company Limited.

The year 1994 gave birth to McDowells Signature whisky and after many mergers and acquisitions, in 1999 the company was incorporated as McDowell Sprits Ltd.